10 Best U.S. Presidents

[??????????]

I don't think anyone who served in the last 25 years should be included, because it takes about that long to begin to consider a President's record objectively.

It takes much longer than that actually. How many historians do you know of who consider Richard Nixon objectively?

I have heard 75 years is the closer number.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

[??????????]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

[??????????]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

The public uproar iniated some investigations. We are paying for the war, we should know what are money is being used for.

[??????????]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

The public uproar iniated some investigations. We are paying for the war, we should know what are money is being used for.

My problem with Abu Gharib is that the DoD asked the journalists not to release the photos as they were already investigating the matter. I believe the DoD was to light. They should have TOLD them they would not release the photos or they would be fined for a first time offense.

[Nation]

1 - FDR
2 - Eisenhower
3 - Washington
4 - Kennedy
5 - Truman
6 - Teddy Roosevelt
7 - Monroe
8 - Taft
9 - Jefferson
10 - Reagan

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

The public uproar iniated some investigations. We are paying for the war, we should know what are money is being used for.

My problem with Abu Gharib is that the DoD asked the journalists not to release the photos as they were already investigating the matter. I believe the DoD was to light. They should have TOLD them they would not release the photos or they would be fined for a first time offense.

And what right does the DoD have to do that?

[The Vorlon]

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. James Polk
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Harry Truman
6. James Monroe
7. Franklin D. Roosevelt
8. Woodrow Wilson
9. George Washington
10. Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson, the guy that was impeached? Odd choice.

That would be the other guy that was impeached

[© tweed]

Andrew Johnson, the guy that was impeached? Odd choice.

Probably a southern hero of some proportions.

[??????????]

Andrew Johnson did a lot of good to help bring the south back in.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

1 - FDR
2 - Lincoln
3 - Washington
4 - T Roosevelt
5 - Kennedy
6 - Truman
7 - Clinton
8 - Eisenhower
9 - Jefferson
10 - Carter

[Dr. Cynic]

1. Franklin Roosevelt
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Harry Truman
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
8. James K. Polk
9. John Kennedy
10. Woodrow Wilson

[gorkay]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

They have been brought back... they're now called the Patriot Act.

[A18]

2. Harding

Please tell me you're joking.

[skybridge]

Jefferson
Lincoln
Roosevelt
Wilson
Roosevelt
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Clinton

10 is a surprisingly large number to cough up.

[PBrunsel]

I revised mine now:

1. William McKinley

2. George Washington

3. Abraham Lincoln

4. Ronald Reagan

5. James K. Polk

6. John Adams

7. Thomas Jefferson

8. Herbert Hoover

9. Andrew Jacklson

10. Grover Cleveland

[CARLHAYDEN]

My top ten (with brief reasons):

1. George Washington (established foundation)

2. Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana purchase)

3. James Polk (won the West)

4. Andrew Jackson (brought The People into government)

5. Ronald Reagan (returned us to greatness)

6. James Monroe (the Monroe Doctrine)

7. Theodore Roosevelt (Trust Buster)

8. John Adams (finished foundation built by Washington)

0. George W. Bush (fighting terrorism)

10. Grover Cleveland (honesty and sanity in government)


I was struck by three of Mr. Brunsel's selections.

McKinley?!?  While I admired his campaign manager, the best thing McKinley ever did was to bequeath TR to the nation.

While Hoover was a great disaster administrator in Europe, and while the Hoover commissions (the original and the imitators) have save the nations billions of dollars, I think Coolidge had Hoover pegged correctly.

As to Lincoln, while he was a very effective communicator, and very determined, his policy stripped down to its basics was 'might makes right.'

[PBrunsel]

I chose McKinley as the greatest because he made us a great power. Under him we became #1 in industry, became invovled in foreign affairs, stood up to Europe. He is our greatest President because without him TR would seemed crazy to wan to build a canal in Panama. We tried a cnal under Hayes and this proposition was laughed out of Congress.

Hoover because he was the first President to aknowledge that starving people need food and jobless people need jobs. He was the first President to offer any relief to the starving masses. If it was not for Hoover capitalism could have collapsed in the U.S. before the '32 Election. Also he stopped a European Economic Collapse by ending all War Reperations until the Depression has past. He was the archiitect of the modern Presidency in my opinion.

[CARLHAYDEN]

First, I agree that Hoover was both a very great man, and that if the truth be told, FDR implemented many of the programs under the aegis of the New Deal which were in fact started by Hoover (and which FDR denounced when he first ran for President).

Second, McKinley had to be dragged into foreign affairs.  I would suggest that American ingenuity and hard work had more to do with the rise of the American economic colosus than the protective tarrif, for which McKinley (as a Congressman) was famous.

[PBrunsel]

I still stand that without McKinley we would not have been a world power. Besides, everything Teddy got done was because of William McKinley.

A good example is the Gold Standard, the weakening of the Kelogg-Brand Act (I think that was it) of 1878 ended the inflation that caused the Panick of 1893. Thus a good economy stayed until the Panick of 1907. Other things are the strong millitary (Great White Fleet) and the industrial might that TR is given credit for are all tracked originaly to McKinley.

TR was a great President (I would have him as #11) but McKinley was the reason he was successfull at first.

[Rob]

In no particular order...

Jefferson
Washington
Lincoln
Cleveland
McKinley
Teddy Roosevelt
Coolidge
Truman
Eisenhower
Clinton

[A18]

In order of impact:

1. Reagan - restored American pride and greatness
2. Madison - First wartime Commander In Chief; great constitutionalist
3. Jefferson - Louisiana Purchase; the government that governs least, governs best
4. Coolidge - Roaring '20s
5. Polk - Won the American West
6. GWB - War on Terror
7. Washington - the precedents he set
8. Cleveland - honest guy; lowered tariffs, flat tax
9. Monroe - Monroe Doctrine
10. McKinley - laissez-faire

[skybridge]

Well, there's something good and bad about just about all of them. Unfortunately none of them has been just perfect.